MORE than 500 protestors staged a march against plans for almost 1,000 homes on green field sites.

MORE than 500 protestors staged a march against plans for almost 1,000 homes on green field sites.

The campaigners, some dressed in animal costumes, followed what they say is a threatened wildlife corridor from Gosforth Park nature reserve along the Ouseburn to the Tyne.

The protest was organised by Newcastle’s Save Gosforth Wildlife movement and West Moor Residents Association in North Tyneside.

They are fighting proposals in Newcastle City Council’s One Core Strategy for 600 homes off Salters Lane on fields next to Gosforth nature reserve.

The protest is also targeting plans by Bellway for 366 executive homes on the Whitehouse Farm site in North Tyneside opposite the reserve.

Campaigners claim the developments will devastate the reserve and wildlife corridor, swamp established communities in urban sprawl and increase traffic congestion.

Around 1,000 objections have been lodged with Newcastle and North Tyneside councils against each of the proposals.

Campaigner Sandy Irvine said: “There has been a real diversity of people taking part, from all sorts of backgrounds. It shows there is genuine, widespread public support against these proposals and for brownfield sites to be developed before green sites.

“People are worried that the strategy looks like a charter for developers, who will cherry pick the best sites.”

James Littlewood, director of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, said: “The fantastic turn out for the march really shows how much people want councils to listen,”

Nick Price, from West Moor Residents Association, said: “The people who turned out are not tree huggers or nimbys or anti-development. They want development which us sustainable and which is in the right place.”